


bad habits never die

by meowkittykenma (azumarheart)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Basically the story of Kenma's nail biting habit, Canon Compliant, Cute, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nail Biting, Nervous Habits, One Shot, Romance, kuroken-freeform, minor injury, plus gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 01:55:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9101170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azumarheart/pseuds/meowkittykenma
Summary: Kenma has had a nail biting issue for as long as he can remember.Stopping the habit is futile, especially due to the fact that Kuroo's fond smiles make him so anxious.AKA: Kenma has a nail biting habit fueled by anxiety and is gay for his best friend





	

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys like this! I started this a month ago but could never figure out the ending, then I wrote it and hated it. I finally finished today! I have some more unfinished fics i'll try to get up soon ^_^ Thanks!!

Kenma has a bad habit of biting his nails. 

It starts out as a simple childhood action. When Kenma is 4, he likes to play outside, gripping handfuls of dirt and patting them into 'nature pies', piling rocks and twigs and leaves until he thinks it looks okay. His mom sits on the concrete with him and chuckles as he fakes eating it, and plays along when he tugs at her sleeve and offers some to her. When he gets home he notices that there is dirt stuck under his nails, and after washing out the granules, he thinks. 'If I don't have nails this wouldn't happen...'

He chews on his pointer finger and soon enough the nail is too short to hide anything under, and the rest of his fingers get the same treatment. Sure, he has a hard time pulling stickers off of things to re-place them somewhere else, but at least there's no dirt.

\---------  
Kenma's mom starts chastising his habit when he's 11 and hasn't grown out of it still. He doesn't go outside very often, as he's found the joy of video games, so there no reason like dirt under his nails that he can use as an excuse to keep biting. So he grows them out for a while, until one day he realizes that he's having trouble tapping the screen of his console. Within minutes, his nails are bare of white and little pieces are being chewed up in his mouth. 

His mom yells at him, and confiscates his games, but he can't stop, and she eventually gives them back with a sigh.

\---------  
Kenma makes a friend, Kuroo, who is incredibly insistent in getting him to go outside and play volleyball. He's not very good, unlike the older boy, and spends a lot of time getting hit in the face. Although he pretends to be annoyed, Kenma is glad that someone is at last taking an interest in him, and Kuroo's perceptive eyes sense that. 

His hands tend to be so active that he forgets to bite his nails. One day when practicing with Kuroo, the ball lands weird when Kenma goes to set, and pushes his nail inwards. He immediately grabs his middle finger, trying to soothe the sharp pain that shot down to his wrist. Kuroo runs over with concern on his face and asks what happened. Kenma mumbles out a nothing, and his friend lets it slide. 

Not even 5 minutes after Kuroo heads home, Kenma's hands are in his mouth, clipping his nails with his teeth. His finger feels bruised for days after, and he vows to never let that happen again. 

\--------  
Kenma's mother tries to get him to stop when he is about to enter high school. She buys a clear nail polish, and puts it on him with no explanation. He's hanging out at Kuroo's house later that day, when he goes to nibble on his ring finger absentmindedly. As soon as the nail enters his mouth, his tongue is flooded with a nasty taste, and he pulls his hand away spluttering. Kuroo looks over at him in surprise, as his friend drags his tongue over his sleeve to try and rid himself of the taste.

"Kenma what the hell is wrong with you?" the older boy laughs out. Kenma turns to look at him with narrowed eyes, a scrunched up look on his face. "My mom put some nail polish on me... I guess to stop me from biting my nails... it tastes so bad..." he mutters out, and Kuroo snickers into his hand. "C'mon Kenma, it can't be that bad!" 

Before Kenma can react, Kuroo has grabbed his pinky finger, and licks the nail. Kenma exclaims a loud 'ew!' while Kuroo's face contorts into an expression of disgust. He splutters as well, and after wiping his tongue on the end of his shirt, he looks back to Kenma. 

"Told you so."

They erupt into giggles, and everything is okay again.

(Kenma picks off all the polish before he leaves, and once he gets home, he promptly throws the bottle away)

\----------  
It's his second year of high school, and Kuroo's last. He walks to school with his best friend every day, and spends even more time with him during volleyball practice. Although he isn't highly passionate for the game, he's aware of the contribution he makes to the team, and he's glad he gets to hang out with Kuroo more often. He yearns for Kuroo's attention, and the feeling is something he can't quite name. 

All he knows is when Kuroo offers a small smile to him from across the court when Lev is testing his patience, or when Kuroo softly and absentmindedly pulls his hand away from his mouth when he can't stop chewing his stubby nails, something in his heart leaps. 

Kuroo's attempts to stop him from biting his nails tend to be counterproductive, as the action sets Kenma's heart racing and anxiety soaring which makes him do it more. It's a need. Kuroo can read him extremely well, notices how when his best friend's nails are being bitten, his anxiety tends to be flaring in tandem. The older boy removes him from the stressor, and calms down Kenma. He doesn't know that he is a stressor in himself.

\---------  
During winter, Kenma has to bundle up. He's small and for some reason is constantly cold, regardless of the weather. So when the snow starts falling and blustery winds attack his hair, he makes sure to layer. Even in class, with warm air blowing around and the heat of teenage bodies permeating towards him, he still has to wear his jacket over a sweater and gloves. At practice, he moves around enough that he doesn't mind the cold.

It's mid-december, and he's taken a liking to wearing gloves almost constantly. He doesn't notice his nails growing longer, and although he occasionally gets the compulsive need to bite them, the fabric blocking them deters him most of the time. Kenma is even a bit proud of himself, his nails haven't been long in a while and he sort of likes them. He considers painting them, like he did to his mothers when he was younger. It's a Friday night when he finally goes through with it, and he spends a painstaking amount of time meticulously painting on cat heads on every nail. 

The next day as he walks to practice with Kuroo, soft black gloves on his freezing fingers, he is buzzing with anticipation to show off his paint job. He's twitchy and there's a glint in his eyes that Kuroo can't ignore. 

"Hey Kenma, what's got you in such a good mood? I thought you hated Saturday practices?" Kuroo chuckles out, lightly smacking the pom-pom on Kenma's hat. Kenma glares at him and tugs on the other boy's sweater strings in retaliation. Kuroo makes a choking sound as he's tugged down by his neck, and Kenma snorts. Kuroo looks up with a twinkle in his eye, and they continue with their walk.

"I'll show you when we get inside," Kenma breathes out, eyes trailing over the cloud that formed when he spoke. Kuroo swings his arm over his shoulders and hums. 

"Alright kitten."

The nickname stirs up the need to chew on his nails, but he knows he can't fuck up his design. 

Twenty minutes later, the duo is standing with the rest of the team, as they wait for their coach to arrive before starting. 

"Okay Kenma, time for your big reveal!" Kuroo says loudly, garnering the attention of the rest of the team. Instinctively, he moves more of his hair over his face, then sticks out his hands quickly, displaying his nails. They are a pale red base color with tiny cat heads painted in black in the middle of each. Everyone lets out a chorus of 'oooh!!'s and 'ahhh!'s, and his hands are grabbed so that they can look closer. His face flushes at the praise, and is still red when his team eventually backs off and disperses. 

He turns to Kuroo, and his heart leaps when he sees the fond smile on his face. "Those are beautiful kitten. You're honestly so talented, I'm so glad I get to know you." The words are heartfelt and completely out of the blue and Kenma is overwhelmed. His thumb shoots up to his mouth on instinct, but before he can bite, he snaps his hand away in order to not ruin his nail art. 

Kenma can feel his face glowing red, and he twists his fingers together anxiously, as he mumbles out a soft "Me too."

It's quiet and maybe not as heartfelt as what Kuroo said, but when Kenma looks up to see the fond look on his face expanded tenfold, he thinks it's probably enough.

\--------  
Kenma's nail art becomes a Thing. He experiments with colors and different patterns (although he mainly sticks to cats and video games). His team is supportive, and always notice when he's changed it up. Kuroo continues to give him soft smiles, and Kenma feels like maybe things will go good.

It's during a practice match with Karasuno when everything cracks a bit. 

When Karasuno arrived at Nekoma's gym, Hinata was quick to rush over to Kenma. One second Kenma was relishing in solitude, and in the next he was barraged with a tight hug, orange hair tickling his nose, and a voice squawking in his ears. "Kenma!!! I'm so glad to see you!!" Hinata yelled, pulling away while grabbing the older boy's hands and bouncing. 

Kenma could only chuckle softly and respond "Hello Shouyou." As Hinata continued to ramble, his eyes sunk lower, until he caught sight of Kenma's nails. Which he immediately screamed about. "KENMA THOSE ARE SO COOL OH MY GOSH DID YOU DO THOSE YOURSELF LIKE HOW DI-" Before he could continue, Suga sauntered over and placed his hand over Hinata's still  
moving mouth. "Sorry about him, you know how he gets. Our teams are heading in to get changed so we should probably get going! And may I say, your nails are quite beautiful." 

Suga left him with a bright smile and a wink, dragging along the still yelling first-year. 

Kenma looked down at his nails, the white base coat, his pinky and thumb that had little volleyballs centered in the middle, his ring fingers with a cat, his middles with a garbage can, and his pointers with a crow. He was proud of the work he had done on them in order to memorialize another 'battle at the garbage dump'. "Sugawara is right, your nails are beautiful." Kuroo said from over his shoulder. Kenma turned and flushed, but smiled softly. 

"Thanks Kuro."

Soon enough, the match had begun. Point after point was scored, each team able to get a slight lead before the other team evened it out. As in all matches between Karasuno and Nekoma, the ending was close. The score was at 24-23, Nekoma in the lead, a match point about to be served. Kuroo stood to Kenma's right, and they nodded at each other as the ball was served behind them. It made a perfect arc over the net, and Daichi received it easily. It was passed to Kageyama, and Tanaka and Hinata ran towards the net. Kuroo, ever so perceptive, was able to read the players fairly well and jumped just in time to tap his fingers against the ball Tanaka hit. 

Kenna's mind went into an overload of information as the world seemed to flow in slow motion. He observed the angle in which the ball was being passed to him, the positioning of himself in relation to the net, the placement of the players on the other side of the net. His hands flew out, strengthening his fingers in preparation to make a drop over the net. Kenma jumped up, and twisted his hands to slam it down to the ground. 

In the back of his mind he vauguely heard the sound of the ball hitting the court, but that wasn't what he was focused on. An extreme pain had burst through his pointer finger as he hit the ball, and as he landed, surrounded by the cheers of his teammates, all he could focus on was that. He looked down quickly, and saw what had happened. His long nails had been the issue, and during the slamming motion of his feint, his pointer nail had broken. A diagonal line of missing nail crossed from the corner of the bed to the middle of the tip, and before Kenma could inspect it more, blood started pouring out. The injury mixed with a sudden burst of anxiety made him feel lightheaded, and he fell to his knees, gripping the base of his finger with his other hand.

"Kenma! We wo-" Kuroo cheered, running towards him, before stopping with a gasp. "Kenma what happened?!" he shouted, sliding on his knees in front of the younger boy. Kuroo looked up, only to see Kenma's usually calm face scrunched up. Tears were streaming down his face, and he let out little sniffles. The older boy's heart stopped. Kenma had only cried a handful of times in the whole history of knowing him. He yelled for a first aid kit, and began to try and calm Kenma down.

"Hey kitten, it's okay, you're okay. I'll get the bandages and we'll clean this right up okay? Please don't cry, just think, we won the match! A-and you get to see Shrimpy a-and I'll make some apple pie to celebrate okay?" Kuroo was stumbling over his words, wiping away his best friend's tears and pushing his hair behind his ears. Yaku ran over and sat down with the first aid kit, pulling out the items needed. 

"M-my nails..." Kenma whimpered softly, leaning his head under Kuroo's neck as Yaku began applying pressure on the wound. Kuroo could feel the hot tears trailing down his neck, and held the younger boy as tight as he could, shushing him when he winced in pain and speaking soft words of comfort. He watched as Yaku applied bandages to Kenma's finger, tugging them tight to prevent more bleeding. 

"Alright Kenma, this should help it heal. I hate to say it but you might want to keep your nails shorter for volleyball. I'm really sorry..." Yaku trailed off, packing the supplies back into the box, before placing his hand on Kenma's shoulder and rubbing it softly. He looked down at the younger boy with a sad expression, and headed off to return the kit. Kenma moved his head from Kuroo's neck, bowing his head and hiding his face behind his hair as little hiccupy sobs shook through his body. Kuroo looked up to see that Karasuno had headed into the locker room, along with most of Nekoma. "C'mon kitten. I'll get our stuff and we can go home." he spoke quietly, before picking the crying boy up bridal style, and carrying him towards

Kuroo headed to the locker room, setting Kenma against the wall outside the door. He crouched down next to the quietly crying boy, and kissed his forehead, before mumbling "I'll be right back". Kenma was left alone, full of sadness and anger at himself. Why had he allowed himself to grow out his nails? He let himself be happy and make fun designs, but the truth was that long nails just weren't for him. Anxiety ran rampant through his body, and once again on instinct, he rose his fingers to bite them. The boy let out another sob, muttering to himself "Stupid stupid, why'd you let yourself think you could do something nice, so foolish..." 

Before his self-deprecating thoughts spun too out of control, he heard a loud voice. "KENMA!" Hinata shouted, running over to the older boy. He immediately crouched down in front of Kenma, gently reaching out to grab his wrists. "Does it hurt? Is that why you're crying?" Hinata questioned, moving Kenna's hand around to examine the bandage covering his finger. Kenma sniffled and considered the pain for a moment, before shaking his head. Hinata made a noise of confusion, shuffling on his feet, and questioned him again. "Well then why are you crying? I don't want you to cry..." his pouty face made Kenma hiccup a tiny laugh, and Kenma pulled his unharmed hand back to rub his eye.

"It's just... I spent so long growing out my nails... and I loved painting them... but I can't even have that..." Tears began to well up again. Hinata noticed and let go of the other wrist, waving his arms around wildly. "Ah! Don't cry! Uhm well, " he looked down at the other nails, "Hey! The one you hurt was the one with a crow on it! Isn't it funny cause you beat us!" Hinata made a pouty face again, this time with a questioning expression, mumbling to himself. "Well I mean that's not funny cause I really wanted to win..."

Kenma let out a snort at his friend and his attempt to cheer him up. Hinata looked up, forgetting about his previous consideration, and sent Kenma a large smile. "I made you laugh! Woo!!" He jumped up and fist pumped, which sent Kenma into another round of giggles. Kuroo came out then, and stopped to fondly smile at the scene. "C'mon kitten, let's head home," he chuckled. Kenma stood, careful of his hand, and hugged Hinata. "Bye Shou, it was good to see you," 

Soon enough, the two were headed home, Kenma still riding on the back of Kuroo. He allowed himself to rest, shutting his eyes and resting his head on the older boy's shoulder. Kenma's body jolted softly with each step Kuroo took, but the rhythm eventually led him to falling asleep. When he awoke, he was laid in his bed, blankets tucked around him, alone. He dazedly got out of bed, hair messy and face sleepy, as he pulled on a big sweater (in hindsight, it was probably Kuroo's) to combat the cold evening air. 

He stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing his face, following the sweet scent that permeated the air. He made a soft noise of confusion when he saw Kuroo, sitting on the counter holding his phone, glancing at the timer on the stove. "Kuroo?" he mumbled sleepily, before walking over to the older boy. Kuroo turned with a smile and opened his arms, so that Kenma could slot between his legs and hug him. Kenma let himself sink into his arms, letting out a huff of air as he began to fall back asleep. The rhythmic petting of his hair sent him drifting, before Kuroo's soft laughter roused him. "Mm..what?" Kenma muttered, using his uninjured hand to fiddle with his shirt. 

"Nothing kitten, I just think you're cute." The words were warm and fond and Kenma felt blood rushing to his cheeks and ears. Kenma pulled back and scratched his nose nervously, feeling anxiety pulse through his blood. His sleepy mind mixed with a sudden burst of confidence led him to speak. "Like... in a best friend way... or like... you like me kind of way?" It was Kuroo's turn to blush, and he looked away, before making eye contact again. "Uhm... well... the second? I-if you're not okay with that I'm sorry we can just forget I said that but also I sorta wanna hold your hand and kiss you and call you my boyfriend and like, if you don't feel the same that's okay like I promise I won't make any moves on you... um could you maybe respond cause I'm getting real nervous here and making a fool out of myself so, uh, yeah well-" His rambling was stopped short by a small hand on his cheek. Kuroo looked into the eyes of the boy in front of him, anxiously waiting for a response, but hopeful. 

Kenma smiled softly, before diverting his eyes and nibbling on his pointer finger. "I uh... like you too," he mumbled, looking up cautiously with his finger still resting on his lip. Kuroo smiled bright, and Kenma mimicked the expression. They laughed breathily, Kenma dropping his hand back to his side, while Kuroo slid forward on the counter. Kuroo, with fond eyes, whispered, asking permission to kiss him. Kenma leaned forwards, connecting their mouths in a sweet kiss. They separated soon after, staring into each other's eyes with the most cheesy, fondest looks. Kuroo slid his hand over Kenma's, still resting on his cheek. "Ow! Fuck!" Kenma yelped, pulling his hand back instantly after Kuroo's hand had brushed his injured finger. 

"Ah shit! I'm so sorry are you okay!?" Kuroo yelped, jumping forwards instinctively to try to inspect the damage. Unfortunately, his dumb brain forgot his precarious position of the edge of the counter, and after shooting forwards, he ended up falling onto the floor. "Ooowwww that hurt..." he whined, rolling back and forth while gripping his knee. Kenma looked down with wide eyes, hand gripping the base of his hurt finger, at his stupidly clumsy boyfriend with such a stupidly big heart. He let out a soft chuckle, and another, until he suddenly burst out laughing, unable to stop his shaking shoulders. Kuroo stopped rolling and looked up with wide eyes, at his adorable boyfriend and his adorable laughter. 

"Kenma I love you." The words came out suddenly and without Kuroo even thinking. Kenma's laughter died down into soft hiccuping, and he sat down on the ground next to Kuroo. "I love you too, you big idiot." Before Kuroo could protest, he was pulled into another soft kiss, right there on the kitchen floor.

Afterwards, Kuroo laid on the couch with ice on his knee, while Kenma pulled the apple pie Kuroo had made (like he promised) out of the oven. They ate the entire thing, before curling up together on the sofa, happy as could be.  
\--------

Kenma still bit his nails. It was a habit, and a hard one to break at that. But Kuroo helped. He didn't paint nasty polish onto Kenma's nails, or revoke his electronic privileges. But he would pull Kenma's hand away from his mouth and into his own, and kiss his lips as a distraction. 

And Kenma was happy with that.


End file.
